Lila update

April 5th 2012

We’ve had Lila a month now so thought I’d update on how she’s settling in. It hasn’t been an entirely smooth transition period… we went from worrying that Yoni would terrorize her to quite the opposite being true – she takes any opportunity to pounce and chase her much bigger brother! I guess she got used to defending herself living rough and she hasn’t learnt that not all cats mean harm, plus a large part of it is her normal kitteny energy and hunter instinct.

There’s currently lots of this stand-offing and eyeballing going on, but we’re trying to distract and re-train her with endless treats and playtime, and I think it’s slowly getting better. It also doesn’t help that our flat has lots of twisty corridor that they can hide and pounce around in. It’s become a bit of a no-mans-land in the cat trench wars.

Yoni was terrified of her at first, hiding and crying whenever we let her out of her safe room, but now he’s started to stand up for himself and defend his territory, swatting her attacks away with the air of a bemused older brother.

Aside from terrorizing her big brother, Lila seems happy in her new home. She loves her food (and goes for Yoni’s after finishing hers, something we need to put a stop to!) and has definitely filled out. She LOVES to play – I forgot how exhausting kittens can be to entertain. She’s particularly obsessed with chasing ribbons and twigs from the garden. I’m taking her to get vaccinated and microchipped soon so she can start going outside which I think will defuse the home situation some more.

Luckily I’ve been working at home for the last few weeks so I can keep an eye on them, as they still aren’t quite ready to be left on their own unsupervised. It’s pretty hard staying focused on work with two kitties around for distraction, though!

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Comments (7)

Im so glad things have calmed down somewhat! Our Inara has settled in quite well, although we were worried because she had sniffles over the weekend. How do you find Lola is with touch from you guys? xxx

Oh it’s lovely that she is settling in! It can be so worrying with a rescue cat though. I remember when my mum got her rescue cat she was terrified of everything – and just hid and shook under the chair for weeks. Mum spent every waking minute with her showing her affection and making sure she had food. Now (10 years later) she’s a loving, sweet little kitty who loves attention.

We recently got a kitten – who was very timid when we got him and it can be so horrible worrying whether they are ok. Now after lots of love and attention – he’s bouncing around the place like a happy little kitty!

The funny thing is, it isn’t really her we need to worry about – it’s our big boy! She’s remarkably well-adjusted apart from being a bit skittish around him, but she loves people and is otherwise totally settled in.